Accounting device



(No Mbdel.

LURE.

DEVICE.

' ACCOUNTING Patented Jan. 5, 1897.

R N Q Q N Q Q v m a 5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELIAS L. MOCLURE, OF SAN rEANCIsCo, CALIFORNIA.

ACCOUNTING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 574,490, dated January5, 1897. Application filed April 10, 1896. Serial No. 586,906. (Nomodel.)

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Beit known that I, ELIAS L. MCCLURE, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residin g in the city and county of San Francisco, State ofCalifornia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAccounting Devices; and I hereby declare the following specification andthe drawings therewith to be a complete description of my invention.

My invention relates to keeping business accounts, and to the adjustmentof balances to' some extent by mechanical means, and to a more completeand convenient method of such records.

Myimprovements consist,essentially,in the construction, arrangement, andcombination of parts and in numerous details and peculiarities thereof,substantially as will be hereinafter described and then moreparticularly pointed out in the claims.

The objects of my invention are to dispense with entries other than theoriginal and final and to comprehend in one operation the essentialfeatures of permanent records; also, to avoid the necessity for widespace laterally for cumulative entries, and to enable by transpositionbalances to be readily made up for each day by mechanically movingforward the balances of all accounts to a second column in conjunctionwith the names and listnumbers of the accounts, so the usual extensionsare not required.

A further object of my invention is to permit entries to be made butonce, direct to the individual accounts, and admit of a completearrangement of accounts and names alphabetically in lists or indexes.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l is a broken plan or flat view of aform or page of accounts arranged according to my invention. Fig. 2 is asection on the line .2 .2 through Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectionon the line x 00, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged section of one of thesheaths for holding the strips of paper on which entries are made.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout.

The essential elements for carrying out my invention are a form orsupport A and a series of elements B,consisting of grooved or flangedstrips of metal C, open on the top and containing strips of ruled paperI), on which entries are made.

The unit or element strips (marked D) each represent one account,containing a catalogue-number in column I, the name of the account incolumn II, the balance in column III, and the date and number of theaccount in column IV. Column V and those in succession on the right arefor daily entries.

The names of the persons, firms, or accounts and the catalogue-numbersof the same are written on separate slips of paper and inserted incolumns I and II and held by the flanges E, as seen in Fig. 1.

In the unit-strips D the amounts constituting debit entries are writtenin red ink, (represented here by heavy Roman numerals;) credit entriesin figures as commonly written.

The unit strips 1) are made of various depths or widths, as the numberof daily entries may require and as seen in Fig. l.

The metal sheaths 0 (shown in section at Fig. 3 and in enlarged view inFig. 4) have inturned flanges or ledges E, that overlap and secure thestrips ofpaperD, except from F to G in Fig. 2, where these ledges arecut away or omitted for purposes hereinafter explained. At the rightthese sheaths C are bent into a cylindrical form, as seen at I, Fig. 2,to inclose a coil of the entry-slips D, and also are so formed as toengage the retaining-rod II, and at the other end are curved to fit overthe retaining-rod II. These rods II- II are supported in the battens JJ, attached to the.

sides of the forms A, or in any other suitable manner, and so spacedthat the sheaths 0, when curved at the ends, will spring over these rodsII and be held secure in their proper order, but removable at pleasurefor the purpose of transposition or to insert new sheaths oraccounts. Itwill be seen that these sheaths C are free to slide laterally on theface of the form A, permitting, as remarked, interchange andtransposition to secure alphabetical arrangement of the names in columnII.

The slips D are cut from ruled sheets of paper and coiled into compactform, as seen in Fig. 2, the end being extended through the sheath C tothe point F in Fig. 1.

The method of operating is as follows: Supposing entries to have beenmade in the name of A. R. Bickford in the. first unit 13, as seen inFig. 1, covering a day or any other time, andthe balances being writtenin column VII, then the strip D in that unit is drawn forward, as seenin Fig. 2, until the balance is in column III, and the end M is clippedoff at L, Fig. 2, to be pasted in a loose-leaf ledger, the balance onlyremaining in column III opposite the name in column II.

The forms A can be made of any co11vcnient length and width, preferablytwo to two and a halffeet long, and of width to accommodate entries oversome convenient period of time. The lateral width of the units B can bevaried, as seen in Fig. l, to accommodate the nature of the accounts oneach, the sheaths (J being made accordingly. The number of these forms Amust depend upon the extent or volume of the accounts dealt with, andwhen of considerable number can be piled in vertical tiers, incased inclosets, or any accessible place.

To permit the addition or removal of forms or their transposition, so asto maintain alphabetical arrangements, I preferably place the piles ortiers on a base or platform that can be raised or lowered and thenprovide deten ts to retain all the forms above a certain place orletter, to be held from descending while those below are lowered, andthus provide for inserting or removing the forms at any point in thetier. As, however, these devices are intended to form the subject of aseparate application for Letters Patent, further description is notrequired here. In this manner it-will be seen that the business recordsof a firm or bank are reduced to a complete system, a daily balance canbe at once read oli", all entries are made direct to the individualaccounts, the accounts are all in alphabetical order, and a repetitionof entries is avoided.

Having thus explained the nature and objects of my invention,what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an accounting device, the form A arranged to receive a series oflaterally-movable units B, the latter consisting of strips of ruledpaper to receive entries and-sheaths to hold the same, substantially inthe manner and for the purposes specified.

2. In an accounting device, laterally and longitudinally adjustablestrips of ruled paper,in the manner described, a metallic sheath to holdthese strips of paper, adapted to fit upon a form A, and removabletherefrom by means of parallel rods engaged by the sheaths O, for thepurpose of adding or transposing the strips and the accounts thereon, inthe manner substantially as described.

3. In an accounting device, the form A and units I3 adapted to fitthereon, consisting of strips and their sheaths the latter curved at oneend to form a chamber or recess to contain a reserve coil of paper, inthe manner substantially as described.

I. In an accounting device, the form A provided with the retaining-rodsII, the transverse sheaths 0 adapted ,to fit across the form, curved attheir ends to spring over the rods II, so as to be movable laterally,and held in place by the elastic grip of the curved ends, in the mannersubstantially as described.

5. In an accounting device, the form A provided with the transversesheaths C and strips D therein, flat on the top and indented at thesides to receive the curved ends of the sheaths O, and parallel rods IIextending through the indented recesses, in the manner and for thepurposes substantially as described.

(3. 111 an accounting device, the combination of the flat formA,adjustable sheaths C, and movable strips of ruled paper D set inalinement with the names and number of accounts in columns I and II, inthe manner substantially and for the purposes specified.

7. In an accounting device, the form A, laterally movable and removablesheaths 0 containing the longitudinal adjustable strips of paper D, andprovided with overlapping flanges E that are cut away and omitted at oneend of the sheath, so as to raise and cut off the contained strips ofpaper D, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature in thepresence of two witnesses.

ELIAS L. MCCLUHE. \Vitnesses:

C. F. KARNS, IV. '1. GROVER.

